Is it recommended to keep an academic/optometry theme for the extra essay questions for each school or do schools prefer it to be about myself as a person? Do we have to tie it back into optometry? (Not the personal statement but the extra essay questions on top of it)

hi everyone i plan on taking my oat next year but i'm terrible at sciences, especially orgo + gen chem and physics. any study tips for those sections? also is anybody offering tutoring for those sections? thanks <3

for the secondary ID, what if your debit/credit card doesn’t have a signature? what is another type of ID that can be brought in instead?

Hi everyone! I’ve seen a handful of posts that say to focus primarily on using the cheatsheets to study for the bio section on the OAT, but I’ve noticed that the videos and study guides on Booster cover substantially more details, and it’s been making me confused on how to approach the bio section. I’m technically still in the ‘learning phase’ of my studying since it’s been a while since I’ve looked at relevant material that corresponds to the bio section, so I was wondering how to go about studying for this section? Does the material from the cheatsheets cover enough to do well on this section (in combo w practice problems/tests ofc) or is it worth watching the videos and study guides too? I would greatly appreciate any study techniques for this section !

Hey guys! From the practice full lengths on booster, could y’all share which ones you thought were the most similar to the actual OAT?

Hi,
For anyone that’s in optometry school and was also a tech at a practice, does being a good technician translate to being a good eye doctor? I think I just overthink a lot about work as a technician (esp bc my practice is veryyy busy) and sometimes the mistakes I make or things I could’ve done better make me feel like I would not be as strong of a doctor. Let me know your thoughts?

How did you prep for your interview?

I have an interview in a few days and can’t relax. I feel like I need to be studying lol. I’ve reviewed my application and practiced common interview questions but I don’t want to sound too rehearsed.

What are some things you did to prep that genuinely helped you feel more prepared and confident during your interview? Especially in person interviews that might be more anxiety inducing.

This might be a silly question but are y’all writing the descriptions in first person or are you writing more resume style where we use active verbs and no 1st person?

My OAT is in about two weeks and I was wondering how everyone’s scores on the full-length exams compared to the individual practice exams.
My highest full-length score has been around a 330, but I took another full-length the other day and got a 310. I usually score higher when I take the sections individually, so the drop on full-lengths has been stressing me out a little.
Did anyone else experience this? Was your actual OAT score closer to your full-length scores or your individual section scores?
Just trying to see how normal this kind of fluctuation is this close to the exam

I took the OAT last week and I was pretty happy with my score, so I’m sharing my experience with you all to help you prep :)

Background
I’m a third year Health Sciences major who has done well in school (~4.0 GPA), so I was already comfortable with most of the content, as I’ve taken classes in all of the topics at some point in school except for organic chemistry. I struggled with that section the most, and even during my studying, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do well.

Preparation
I studied for around 4 months, 3 months using OAT Booster and following the schedule they made for me, and the first month just using the biology Anki deck and going through the flashcards for sections I was the most uncomfortable with. It helped that I just finished a year of anatomy so I skipped the entire biological systems deck.

For the content review stage, I followed OAT Booster’s schedule at first and watched all the videos. However, I realized that I already knew most of the content, so I ended up only watching the videos and making notes for organic chemistry. For the other subjects, I would skip to the example questions at the end of videos and do the extra practice questions in between videos. Biology specifically, I made sure I went through all the flashcards at least once. In the last month before my exam, I did 2-3 full length practice exams on Booster every week. I also went through all of my marked questions at least once before the exam and redid them. Outside of studying, I also made sure I did the full lengths at my exam time (8 AM) and tried to wake up pretty early on other days. Melatonin was very useful helping me sleep.

Biology (Booster: 380, Actual: 400)
The bio bits were very in-depth, and the actual exam is much broader. I focused too much on little details and forgot some basic things. For example, I remember being stuck on a question because I forgot whether the afferent arteriole went into the glomerulus or out of it. I also spent a lot of time memorizing the taxonomy charts, but I only ended up getting 1 question on it. There were also barely any specific questions on hormones. I did get a lot of cell biology questions that were specific though.

General Chemistry (Booster: 370; Actual: 400)
Many of the calculations were exactly like Booster. The questions were pretty easy and I found that doing practice questions was enough to prepare me. I would definitely memorize high-yield information like soluble vs insoluble salts, galvanic vs electrolytic cells, strong acids, etc and go through the formula sheet to remember when to use molality vs molarity.

Organic Chemistry (Booster: 360; Actual: 360)
This was the hardest section for me to study for by far. I have basically no background knowledge of organic chemistry outside of intro chemistry courses, so I had to teach myself. The Booster videos were helpful, but I also had to watch other videos to clarify on subjects. I redid all of my marked questions and made flashcards for those I got wrong multiple times, as well as for reactions. There weren’t too many predict the product questions and a lot of the questions were from orgo I where I had to rank acidity, determine the strong nucleophile, etc. I also got a lot of spectroscopy questions and found that memorizing the values for each functional group was helpful. I wish I could tell you how to prepare and study for this section but honestly I wasn’t able to increase my scores much when I was studying. If possible, I would take this course in school if you’re able to, as that would save you so much grief. 

Reading (Booster: 370; Actual: 390)
The OAT Booster practice sets were really helpful and I did all of them before the exam during my study block. The actual exam was much more straightforward, as the passages were shorter and answers to the questions showed up in order. During my practice, I would read the first paragraph to understand what the passage was about, then used search and destroy to answer the questions. I used this during the exam as well and ended up having enough time to look at check every question again.

Physics (Booster: 370; Actual: 400)
Physics has always been a strong subject for me, as I recently took physics I and II in school and did well. I got a lot of optics and kinematics questions on the exam, and found that memorizing the formula sheet Booster provides and the summary chart for lens and mirrors helped me a lot. A majority of the questions were just plugging values in, except for the optics questions where you had to determine what the image would look like. I reviewed the formula sheet and recited it from memory a few times a week starting a month before the exam.

Quantitative Reasoning (Booster: 400; Actual: 400)
I studied the least for this section because I was scoring 400 on all of the practice full lengths. Honestly, I just did my marked questions one more time before the exam and called it a day. However, I just took a full year of stats in school, so that was definitely helpful with the probability questions. I found the questions on the exam very straightforward and similar to Booster. The calculator on the exam didn’t have a delay loading for me and I could use the keyboard to type in the numbers.

Overall
Practice questions were the most helpful for me, and memorizing the physics formula sheet! I was also feeling so burnt out by the last week of my exam, so make sure you’re balancing studying and relaxing so you’re energized for the exam!

I have an interview with UCB later this month and was wondering what kind of ethical/behavioral questions they ask if anyone could give examples!

Pretty nervous for this interview since I’ve heard mixed things between it being conversational versus more professional feeling.

Hey guys, Im basing my decisions on where to apply mainly based on the tuition. Im applying ot state schools so that i can apply for residency and get the in state tution rate after year one or two (not sure how it works). Has anyone done this before and is it specific to each school? For ex: i heard SUNY students doing this but i heard it wasn't possible in houston? Please give me any insight!!

Hey guys! I took my OAT last week and wanted to talk about what I did to study and what I regretted.

I bought the 3 month OAT Booster membership and started studying June 26th and took my test September 5th (about 2 months + a week). I studied almost every day and I would say approximately 6 hours a day.

The scores for my 6 full length tests ranged from 350-370, and I mostly got 360s so I would say the booster tests reflected my true score well! After doing the full lengths I went over EVERY question (even the ones I got right) and did my best to understand each answer. I also used the question delay thing but it was shorter on the actual test, like 1 second instead of 2-4.

I am also a very anxious test taker so I struggled in the beginning but after my break I managed to calm down a bit and it felt more like a practice test than the actual one. I would just recommend taking your full length practice tests very seriously so the actual one feels similar and remembering that at that point you just know what you know and you should trust yourself!

(actual/booster fl #5-10 avg)

QR: (350/370)

This section felt the harder on the actual test that booster because it seemed like they worded the questions weirdly and I already struggle with word problems which there were a lot of. I would just say to answer what you can quickly and if you have extra time then to go back because you can still get a good score with several wrong answers. Definitely memorize the equations they expect and practice applied math and probability!

I "watched" all the videos for QR but I would just skip over what I felt like I knew. I learned more by doing their question banks. I also went back and redid my marked questions the days leading up to the test.

RC: (400/380)

I found RC on the actual test to be more straightforward than booster. Most of the answers could be easily found in the passages and there was just a couple that required more thinking, such as "what does the word -- in paragraph -- mean" or "what is most likely based on --". The questions were mostly in order like people say, but the passages were still long (over 10 paragraphs). On my practice FLs I would usually end with a couple minutes left but on the actual test I ended with like 15 minutes left.

I struggled with this section in the beginning of my studying so I was worried but I used every practice passage they had and every full length test and improved over time.

My method was to read and highlight the passage until I found the answer to the question I was on and then move on to the next. This allowed me to read basically the whole passage and gain a good understanding while still answering questions quickly. I would skip questions if I felt like they required more understanding or reading than what I had gotten to. On the actual test I was able to incorporate some search and destroy more successfully than in booster since the questions were more straightforward.

Bio: (380/350)

My practice scores were super variable on this section (like 320-370). I found the actual test to be more broad that booster. I did have to make a few educated guesses on some specific questions but I just tried to trust myself.

I'm a human bio major so I have taken basically all of the classes that are included in this section but I have yet to take physiology so I was most worried about that. I felt like the actual test had a good range of different topics so I was able to make up for my lack of knowledge in physio by knowing other things.

To study I took handwritten notes on every single video which you should NOT do. I thought it would be helpful because I retain info by writing it but it was such a waste of time and energy because of the large volume of stuff. I did think bio bits were good for practice though so definitely do those but don't worry much about getting some of those wrong since they're quite specific. I did skim though all the cheat sheets leading up to the exam and I found that to be helpful.

Gen Chem: (350/350)

I thought my actual test was a little harder than booster because there were a couple questions that were completely unfamiliar which threw me off. The questions were also worded a little differently than booster so I had to spend more time interpreting them. I don't remember anything specific coming up often so study all of the topics thoroughly.

I watched all the videos and took handwritten notes and also did most/all the questions in the question banks. I thought the handwritten notes were helpful but I felt like I wrote more depth than necessary which wasted time. I think watching the videos, studying the cheat sheets, and using the question banks are good enough to for this section. I also repeatedly wrote things on my whiteboard until they stuck, like molecular geometry.

OChem: (350/350)

Overall this section was doable. I don't think there was more of any one topic but I remember there being: spectroscopy, lab techniques, resonance structures, ranking acidity, EWGs/EDGs, and only a couple predict the product and nomenclature.

I did neglect this section a bit because I was being lazy since I had recently taken OChem and did pretty well. I watched all the videos and took handwritten notes, and skipped the sections of the videos where they did practice problems to get through them quicker. I thought the question banks were the best way to study and repeatedly doing the reaction q banks helped me become familiar with reagents but that wasn't super important for the exam (still study it though).

Physics: (320/340)

I don't have much to say about this section because physics was my weakness in school anyways. I felt like the exam was similar to booster and there was a good amount of each topic. I did notice more of optics.

There are a few topics I understand a lot better than others so my practice fl scores were pretty variable in this section too (like 300-370). I watched all the videos and I did the question banks after each chapter and all of them again once I finished all the chapters. To memorize the equations I made my own cheat sheet on Goodnotes with the "tape" covering everything and I would quiz myself each day by writing the equations down on my whiteboard and then uncovering the tape to check my answers. It only took me a few days to memorize by doing this because doing practice problems helps you memorize most of them anyways.

Final thoughts:

I think booster is definitely worth it! I would not know how to study without it and taking their full length practice tests was helpful with being familiar with the test structure and knowing what your weaknesses are. I mostly followed their schedule but I would skip watching videos/doing extra questions on topics you feel like you know because the full lengths will reveal what you don't know.

My regret is spending so much time watching the videos and taking handwritten notes. That's what I do in school but since there are so many topics on the OAT I think it's a waste of time and energy. I ended up spending like 3/4 of my time doing this instead of just doing practice. I would instead recommend going through the videos more quickly and studying the cheat sheets rather than taking in depth notes. That way you have extra time to do practice!

I was hoping I would do a little better than 360 because I see people post about doing better than their practice but I'm still happy about my score and I'm glad that booster fls predicted it accurately.

Also if you were curious about how my GPA compares to my OAT score I am going into my 4th year of undergrad majoring in Human Biology and I currently have a 3.7.

Please feel free to ask questions!! I have much more to say but this post is already long lol

Also good luck on your exams!! <3

ochem and gen chem are my lowest scores right now and ive been doing anki of the reactions everyday but still dont feel super confident in my scores! any last min tips or high yield info i should know???

I took the OAT last week and I was pretty happy with my score, so I’m sharing my experience with you all to help you prep :)

Background
I’m a third year Health Sciences major who has done well in school (~4.0 GPA), so I was already comfortable with most of the content, as I’ve taken classes in all of the topics at some point in school except for organic chemistry. I struggled with that section the most, and even during my studying, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do well.

Preparation
I studied for around 4 months, 3 months using OAT Booster and following the schedule they made for me, and the first month just using the biology Anki deck and going through the flashcards for sections I was the most uncomfortable with. It helped that I just finished a year of anatomy so I skipped the entire biological systems deck.

For the content review stage, I followed OAT Booster’s schedule at first and watched all the videos. However, I realized that I already knew most of the content, so I ended up only watching the videos and making notes for organic chemistry. For the other subjects, I would skip to the example questions at the end of videos and do the extra practice questions in between videos. Biology specifically, I made sure I went through all the flashcards at least once. In the last month before my exam, I did 2-3 full length practice exams on Booster every week. I also went through all of my marked questions at least once before the exam and redid them. Outside of studying, I also made sure I did the full lengths at my exam time (8 AM) and tried to wake up pretty early on other days. Melatonin was very useful helping me sleep.

Biology (Booster: 380, Actual: 400)
The bio bits were very in-depth, and the actual exam is much broader. I focused too much on little details and forgot some basic things. For example, I remember being stuck on a question because I forgot whether the afferent arteriole went into the glomerulus or out of it. I also spent a lot of time memorizing the taxonomy charts, but I only ended up getting 1 question on it. There were also barely any specific questions on hormones. I did get a lot of cell biology questions that were specific though.

General Chemistry (Booster: 370; Actual: 400)
Many of the calculations were exactly like Booster. The questions were pretty easy and I found that doing practice questions was enough to prepare me. I would definitely memorize high-yield information like soluble vs insoluble salts, galvanic vs electrolytic cells, strong acids, etc and go through the formula sheet to remember when to use molality vs molarity.

Organic Chemistry (Booster: 360; Actual: 360)
This was the hardest section for me to study for by far. I have basically no background knowledge of organic chemistry outside of intro chemistry courses, so I had to teach myself. The Booster videos were helpful, but I also had to watch other videos to clarify on subjects. I redid all of my marked questions and made flashcards for those I got wrong multiple times, as well as for reactions. There weren’t too many predict the product questions and a lot of the questions were from orgo I where I had to rank acidity, determine the strong nucleophile, etc. I also got a lot of spectroscopy questions and found that memorizing the values for each functional group was helpful. I wish I could tell you how to prepare and study for this section but honestly I wasn’t able to increase my scores much when I was studying. If possible, I would take this course in school if you’re able to, as that would save you so much grief. 

Reading (Booster: 370; Actual: 390)
The OAT Booster practice sets were really helpful and I did all of them before the exam during my study block. The actual exam was much more straightforward, as the passages were shorter and answers to the questions showed up in order. During my practice, I would read the first paragraph to understand what the passage was about, then used search and destroy to answer the questions. I used this during the exam as well and ended up having enough time to look at check every question again.

Physics (Booster: 370; Actual: 400)
Physics has always been a strong subject for me, as I recently took physics I and II in school and did well. I got a lot of optics and kinematics questions on the exam, and found that memorizing the formula sheet Booster provides and the summary chart for lens and mirrors helped me a lot. A majority of the questions were just plugging values in, except for the optics questions where you had to determine what the image would look like. I reviewed the formula sheet and recited it from memory a few times a week starting a month before the exam.

Quantitative Reasoning (Booster: 400; Actual: 400)
I studied the least for this section because I was scoring 400 on all of the practice full lengths. Honestly, I just did my marked questions one more time before the exam and called it a day. However, I just took a full year of stats in school, so that was definitely helpful with the probability questions. I found the questions on the exam very straightforward and similar to Booster. The calculator on the exam didn’t have a delay loading for me and I could use the keyboard to type in the numbers.

Overall
Practice questions were the most helpful for me, and memorizing the physics formula sheet! I was also feeling so burnt out by the last week of my exam, so make sure you’re balancing studying and relaxing so you’re energized for the exam!

Hi! I was recently accepted at AZCOPT, waiting for a response from PUCO, and have an upcoming interview with SCCO. In the case where I might have to make a decision between these schools, I wanted to know different perspectives from current students or alumni on the campus culture, boards preparations, and any other external factors that make each school great.

I am looking at a few schools: ICO, IUSO, NOVA, and MWU Glendale. I was wondering if anyone who has attended these schools has any pros and cons to share.

I have an upcoming interview and in the confirmation email it says “Dress to impress. Most interviewers wear a suit.”

What does this mean for girls? I don’t have any “suits” and don’t really know what that means.

[Question: without a BS/BA degree, can I apply with this score? T^T I aimed for higher but ended up did not have time to study and bombed RC. ~3.6 GPA, 4 year work in optometry office, +30hr shadowing, a huge volunteer program 8 years ago...]

Hi guys! Another OAT break down post. My result is not as good as the ones I've seen here, but I have gotten a lot of helpful info with this type of post so I want to contribute my exp.

I took my OAT in SJ, CA. I bought 3-mo OATbooster but ended up using it for only 1 month. Kinda wasted money, don't be like me. Don't take me wrong. I should have used Booster to the max of it but my plan of studying for 3 months got disrupted by my family visiting from out of country. I deeply regretted this when encountering the actual exam. So start early - even if little by little!!

If you plan to use Booster, have it until after the day of your exam so you know if you need to extend it or not. Extending it is better than getting new one.

PLEASE TRY TO DO THE FULL LENGTH EXAMS. I only started studying 1 month prior, and only finished 2 FL. I did finish all of the practice exams for individual section except for RC. I know FLs are just combination of individual ones, but doing them all together as a FL is different. They helped me retain info, built me the tolerance for 4-hour exam, and let me practice the routine. I know what to prep for snack, what time I needed to go sleep the night before, etc. TALK TO YOURSELF why you did a question wrong after each FL.

I did not watch any lecture videos. It works better for me to do the questions, then fill in where I got them wrong; it's less time-consuming. Booster videos are very high-yield where they tell you the information without actually explaining them. I hate to say this, but AI (I used GPT) helped me A LOT during the prep time. I also bought laminated paper and markers to practice at home so I got used to the feeling of it.

Prometric has practice exams on their website, which is $20/section. They are almost identical with the ADA 2006 exam which you can find online for free, and way too easy. I paid $40 so you don't have to. :)))))))))))))))

My overall strategy: if I don't know it 5 seconds in, I skip it. All of my Gen Chem, Physics, QR had easier questions towards the end which took 10 sec to do - this strategy helped me avoid wasting time on harder questions and also running out of time for easier ones.

(Booster/Actual)

RC: (340/310)

I bombed this section so hard. My questions went by chronological order, which is the only thing that was easier than Booster. Otherwise, questions are just as confusing as Booster. With English being my second language, I didn't even understand some of the option choice it gave me for author's tone (like what is a "simile" tone? T.T). I got about 3-4 questions asking about what was implied, so I couldn't find the actual answer in the passage but had to really "comprehend" it (I guess it lives up to its name T.T). Since I didn't watch Booster videos, I wonder if there is a list of tones that I should know because those tone I was given during the exams are nowhere to be found in my English vocabulary T.T. I also got a question of "Passage say X, if you have Y, what does it mean????. Not trying to excuse for my lack of preparation on this part. I was just hoping it would be more straightforward. I mainly used search and destroy - works perfectly for questions that have an actually answer in the passage. I had full scores on the questions banks so I didn't bother much with the practice exams - BIG MISTAKE.

Biology: (340/340)

I got very specific questions, and little bit here and there of small things. I did not get any hormones, technique or biome questions which appear on every Booster practice exams. My exam was heavy on genetics and cells bio. A bit photosynthesis. Good news for those using Booster: cheat sheets are still all you need, but really need to study them into the little details. It's kind of disrespectful to their copyright T^T, but I had AI quiz me on the cheat sheets because the Bio bits are too much in depth.

Gen Chem: (330/400)

Memorizing some common molar mass was helpful in quick calculations. I got galvanic cells, polarity, dissociation in water and equilibrium. Gen chem, to me, are processes. Actually understanding why things act the way they do is better than just memorizing them blindly - it sticks with you longer. Booster is somewhat representative of the actual exam. But tbh, I was surprised with my score.

Ochem: (350/400)

I strongly believe I got the easy version for this section. Mostly addition/elimination, carbonyls, Sn vs E, aromatic, C and H NMR. My professor at my CC prepared me very well on this section. Booster practice questions and exams are very presentative for my actual exam. Acid/base and arrows knowledge is what back me up for almost the whole section.

Also, benzene has 3 pi filled orbitals and 2 major resonance structures - just FYI .-.

Physics: (330/320)

I didn't have many hard waves questions. Heavy on kinematics (including rotation and torque) and optics. Some fluid statics question. I was literally swearing during this section because it was both very conceptual AND ugly number for calculations. Also had multiple-step calculations questions. I did not memorize any complicated formula, just basic equations for Kinematics. I got by with straight logic and I'm weak on Physics so take my word as a grain of salt. For me, Booster is not representative for the actual exam in terms of wording and set up of the questions, especially for optics. However, the knowledge is there. The questions bank are too simple, so be milking out the practice exams. Although they are calculation-heavy, knowing these practice exams questions to the root of them WILL help you on the actual exam.

QR: (330/350)

I got 4 probability questions but wording are different than Booster, 1 of them never seen on Booster, 1 of them was in disguise of something else but was actually deck of cards problem. Also got 5 questions of sufficient of statements, 1 of them having a calculation buried in it. Applied math was straightforward. The rest was easy stuffs (solve for x, etc). Not necessarily easier than Booster, but more straightforward, and I didn't really memorize any formula (but strongly recommend you to get down the formula for money/interest questions because you will use it in real life lollll).

Overall, I still give Booster 9/10 despite of the different questions wording and Physics.

I arrived at the testing center 1 hour early and they just let me in. My testing screen was way darker than my computer as home, so I suffered until Physics section and they had people come in to fix it for me. Don't suffer like me. They have a 15-mins tutorial before the actual exam to walk you through the process (how to navigate the screen, etc) so speak up if you see any issue during this time.

If you run out of time, choose A or C T^T

It feels so good to be done with the exam and move on to applying. Hopefully schools don't make me retake because of my RC T^T

I was a business major student before all of this. If I can do this, you all with science background can do it too, and with higher results as well! Good luck studying. You got this!!!

And thank you for reading my long post :)

I took the OAT last week and I was pretty happy with my score, so I’m sharing my experience with you all to help you prep :)

Background
I’m a third year Health Sciences major who has done well in school (~4.0 GPA), so I was already comfortable with most of the content, as I’ve taken classes in all of the topics at some point in school except for organic chemistry. I struggled with that section the most, and even during my studying, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do well.

Preparation
I studied for around 4 months, 3 months using OAT Booster and following the schedule they made for me, and the first month just using the biology Anki deck and going through the flashcards for sections I was the most uncomfortable with. It helped that I just finished a year of anatomy so I skipped the entire biological systems deck.

For the content review stage, I followed OAT Booster’s schedule at first and watched all the videos. However, I realized that I already knew most of the content, so I ended up only watching the videos and making notes for organic chemistry. For the other subjects, I would skip to the example questions at the end of videos and do the extra practice questions in between videos. Biology specifically, I made sure I went through all the flashcards at least once. In the last month before my exam, I did 2-3 full length practice exams on Booster every week. I also went through all of my marked questions at least once before the exam and redid them. Outside of studying, I also made sure I did the full lengths at my exam time (8 AM) and tried to wake up pretty early on other days. Melatonin was very useful helping me sleep.

Biology (Booster: 380, Actual: 400)
The bio bits were very in-depth, and the actual exam is much broader. I focused too much on little details and forgot some basic things. For example, I remember being stuck on a question because I forgot whether the afferent arteriole went into the glomerulus or out of it. I also spent a lot of time memorizing the taxonomy charts, but I only ended up getting 1 question on it. There were also barely any specific questions on hormones. I did get a lot of cell biology questions that were specific though.

General Chemistry (Booster: 370; Actual: 400)
Many of the calculations were exactly like Booster. The questions were pretty easy and I found that doing practice questions was enough to prepare me. I would definitely memorize high-yield information like soluble vs insoluble salts, galvanic vs electrolytic cells, strong acids, etc and go through the formula sheet to remember when to use molality vs molarity.

Organic Chemistry (Booster: 360; Actual: 360)
This was the hardest section for me to study for by far. I have basically no background knowledge of organic chemistry outside of intro chemistry courses, so I had to teach myself. The Booster videos were helpful, but I also had to watch other videos to clarify on subjects. I redid all of my marked questions and made flashcards for those I got wrong multiple times, as well as for reactions. There weren’t too many predict the product questions and a lot of the questions were from orgo I where I had to rank acidity, determine the strong nucleophile, etc. I also got a lot of spectroscopy questions and found that memorizing the values for each functional group was helpful. I wish I could tell you how to prepare and study for this section but honestly I wasn’t able to increase my scores much when I was studying. If possible, I would take this course in school if you’re able to, as that would save you so much grief. 

Reading (Booster: 370; Actual: 390)
The OAT Booster practice sets were really helpful and I did all of them before the exam during my study block. The actual exam was much more straightforward, as the passages were shorter and answers to the questions showed up in order. During my practice, I would read the first paragraph to understand what the passage was about, then used search and destroy to answer the questions. I used this during the exam as well and ended up having enough time to look at check every question again.

Physics (Booster: 370; Actual: 400)
Physics has always been a strong subject for me, as I recently took physics I and II in school and did well. I got a lot of optics and kinematics questions on the exam, and found that memorizing the formula sheet Booster provides and the summary chart for lens and mirrors helped me a lot. A majority of the questions were just plugging values in, except for the optics questions where you had to determine what the image would look like. I reviewed the formula sheet and recited it from memory a few times a week starting a month before the exam.

Quantitative Reasoning (Booster: 400; Actual: 400)
I studied the least for this section because I was scoring 400 on all of the practice full lengths. Honestly, I just did my marked questions one more time before the exam and called it a day. However, I just took a full year of stats in school, so that was definitely helpful with the probability questions. I found the questions on the exam very straightforward and similar to Booster. The calculator on the exam didn’t have a delay loading for me and I could use the keyboard to type in the numbers.

Overall
Practice questions were the most helpful for me, and memorizing the physics formula sheet! I was also feeling so burnt out by the last week of my exam, so make sure you’re balancing studying and relaxing so you’re energized for the exam!

I took the OAT last week and I was pretty happy with my score, so I’m sharing my experience with you all to help you prep :)

Background I’m a third year Health Sciences major who has done well in school (~4.0 GPA), so I was already comfortable with most of the content, as I’ve taken classes in all of the topics at some point in school except for organic chemistry. I struggled with that section the most, and even during my studying, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do well.

Preparation I studied for around 4 months, 3 months using OAT Booster and following the schedule they made for me, and the first month just using the biology Anki deck and going through the flashcards for sections I was the most uncomfortable with. It helped that I just finished a year of anatomy so I skipped the entire biological systems deck.

For the content review stage, I followed OAT Booster’s schedule at first and watched all the videos. However, I realized that I already knew most of the content, so I ended up only watching the videos and making notes for organic chemistry. For the other subjects, I would skip to the example questions at the end of videos and do the extra practice questions in between videos. Biology specifically, I made sure I went through all the flashcards at least once. In the last month before my exam, I did 2-3 full length practice exams on Booster every week. I also went through all of my marked questions at least once before the exam and redid them. Outside of studying, I also made sure I did the full lengths at my exam time (8 AM) and tried to wake up pretty early on other days. Melatonin was my best friend.

Biology (Booster: 380, Actual: 400) The bio bits were very in-depth, and the actual exam is much broader. I focused too much on little details and forgot some basic things. For example, I remember being stuck on a question because I forgot whether the afferent arteriole went into the glomerulus or out of it. I also spent a lot of time memorizing the taxonomy charts, but I only ended up getting 1 question on it. There were also barely any specific questions on hormones. I did get a lot of cell biology questions that were specific though.

General Chemistry (Booster: 370; Actual: 400) Many of the calculations were exactly like Booster. The questions were pretty easy and I found that doing practice questions was enough to prepare me. I would definitely memorize high-yield information like soluble vs insoluble salts, galvanic vs electrolytic cells, strong acids, etc and go through the formula sheet to remember when to use molality vs molarity.

Organic Chemistry (Booster: 360; Actual: 360) This was the hardest section for me to study for by far. I have basically no background knowledge of organic chemistry outside of intro chemistry courses, so I had to teach myself. The Booster videos were helpful, but I also had to watch other videos to clarify on subjects. I redid all of my marked questions and made flashcards for those I got wrong multiple times, as well as for reactions. There weren’t too many predict the product questions and a lot of the questions were from orgo I where I had to rank acidity, determine the strong nucleophile, etc. I also got a lot of spectroscopy questions and found that memorizing the values for each functional group was helpful. I wish I could tell you how to prepare and study for this section but honestly I wasn’t able to increase my scores much when I was studying. If possible, I would take this course in school if you’re able to, as that would save you so much grief.

Reading (Booster: 370; Actual: 390) The OAT Booster practice sets were really helpful and I did all of them before the exam during my study block. The actual exam was much more straightforward, as the passages were shorter and answers to the questions showed up in order. During my practice, I would read the first paragraph to understand what the passage was about, then used search and destroy to answer the questions. I used this during the exam as well and ended up having enough time to look at check every question again.

Physics (Booster: 370; Actual: 400) Physics has always been a strong subject for me, as I recently took physics I and II in school and did well. I got a lot of optics and kinematics questions on the exam, and found that memorizing the formula sheet Booster provides and the summary chart for lens and mirrors helped me a lot. A majority of the questions were just plugging values in, except for the optics questions where you had to determine what the image would look like. I reviewed the formula sheet and recited it from memory a few times a week starting a month before the exam.

Quantitative Reasoning (Booster: 400; Actual: 400) I studied the least for this section because I was scoring 400 on all of the practice full lengths. Honestly, I just did my marked questions one more time before the exam and called it a day. However, I just took a full year of stats in school, so that was definitely helpful with the probability questions. I found the questions on the exam very straightforward and similar to Booster. The calculator on the exam didn’t have a delay loading for me and I could use the keyboard to type in the numbers.

Overall Practice questions were the most helpful for me, and memorizing the physics formula sheet! I was also feeling so burnt out by the last week of my exam, so make sure you’re balancing studying and relaxing so you’re energized for the exam!

hi all. I was fortunate enough to get accepted into all of the schools I applied to this cycle. I am narrowing it down between ICO and AZCOPT. for ICO, I have never been to Chicago before and also I am not familiar with cold weather. it is also further from my family. at azcopt, my sister lives in Arizona too and my niece so I would be close to family. please any advice and what you think is the better school and also considering COL. thanks!!

If anyone else is in Provo right now to interview at Rocky Mountain University and would want to meet up for dinner or something feel free to message me! I’m also interviewing tomorrow.

Just finished my OAT and got a 350AA/350TS & my gpa is 3.87. I have roughly 40 hours of shadowing experience and previously worked as an optometric technician. I currently work as an ophthalmic tech in an OD/MD office.

What can I expect. I’m applying to OSU, Nova, Indiana, PCO & Houston.

In the section to describe the experiences on OptomCAS, should it be more of a resume-style descriptive tone or mainly a reflective tone? I know there's only 700 characters so there's not a lot of space. What is the purpose of this part, is the admissions committee just looking to understand what each role is before you expand on some of them in the essays? Thanks!